Young boy dies in trial of Pfizer DMD gene therapy, STAT reports

A young boy died in Daylight, a trial studying Pfizer’s (PFE) experimental gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, or DMD, reported STAT’s Jason Mast, citing a note posted online by Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy. Pfizer said it had not yet determined precisely what happened or how the boy died, but that it is pausing crossing over patients in its randomized phase 3 trial of the treatment in older boys, added the report, which notes that Pfizer is expected to announce data from that study in the coming weeks. Shares of Pfizer are down 1% in Tuesday afternoon trading, while those of Sarepta (SRPT), which is studying its own gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, are up 3%.